The 2011 edition of the Ferrari Racing Days at Laguna Seca was supposed to be a fun day of merry-making amongst owners of the Prancing Horse.
The weekend-long event featured a number of races involving cars from the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli, including that of the new 458 Italia, as well as the FXX and the 599 XX.
Unfortunately, one owner of a rare Ferrari FXX didn’t have as good a weekend as his contemporaries after crashing his supercar out on the infamous ’Corkscrew’ section of the racetrack. While the damage doesn’t appear to be as serious as it should have been - FXX models are not meant for collisions - the dings and scratches are still noticeable enough to leave a pretty big dent in the owner’s wallet.
He could probably still afford paying for the damage done to his street-illegal sports car, but for a vehicle that could fetch millions of dollars in the market, the owner of this FXX should probably take good care of his prized stallion the next time he takes it out on the race track.
The Scottsdale Auction Week has just wrapped up its activities and has achieved its status as the most successful auction ever, pulling in $14.2 Million in final sales. Among those sales were some oldies, but goodies which brought in more than their fair share of benjamins.
"Scottsdale’s sunshine cast a warm glow over the Valley this week but the real heat emanated from our auction today with a fantastic crowd turnout and more than $14 Million in sales," said President and founder David Gooding. "Collectors and enthusiasts will not want to miss the excitement tomorrow, when highlights such as our barnfind 1948 Tucker and Fiat 8V Supersonic are presented."
On a vintage note, several significant and highly-original cars from the 1950s and 60s sold very well, including a 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing that sold for $858,000, a 1965 Ferrari 275 GTB that sold for $797,500, and an unrestored 1964 Shelby 289 Cobra that sold for $610,500.
But one of the most impressive auctions was a 2006 Ferrari FXX Evoluzione which sold for an impressive $2.09 Million. This model is one of 30 FXX examples of Ferrari’s most advanced production car ever created. It is powered by a 6262 cc V12 engine that delivers 860 hp at 9500 rpm and is capable of sprinting from 0 to 60 mph in 2.7 seconds, while top speed goes up to an impressive 249 mph.
Gooding and Company are preparing for an amazing auction event set to take place on Friday, January 21 2011 in Scottsdale. This event will lead to the auctioning off of many supercars belonging to the estate of renowned collector Benny Caiola. Although many supercars will be in attendance and hoping to be sold to a good home, the two most prized pieces will be the 2006 Ferrari FXX Evoluzione and a 2005 Maserati MC 12.
The 2006 Ferrari FXX Evoluzione is one of 30 FXX examples of Ferrari’s most advanced production car ever created. It is powered by a 6262 cc V12 engine that delivers 860 hp at 9500 rpm and is capable of sprinting from 0 to 60 mph in 2.7 seconds, while top speed goes up to an impressive 249 mph.
The 2005 Maserati MC 12 was purchased direct from the factory and is vehicle number 31 of the 50 built. It is powered by a 6.0-liter V-12 engine that delivers an impressive 624 HP and can exceed 205mph at full throttle, sprinting from 0 to 60mph in just 3.8 seconds.
By now, it would seem to be common knowledge to anyone who has a remote interest in cars that Top Gear is one place that you never doubt when it comes to rolling out the most exotic of exotic supercars in the world without even trying to plead to the manufacturer to lend them the said supercar.
If you’re an automaker, when Top Gear asks if they can test drive your car, there’s no way that anybody could say no, especially with the amount of publicity the show – and the magazine for that matter – provides.
And if you need any more proof of that, this video is all you need to understand just how much clout Top Gear has in the industry. That, dear friends, is a Ferrari FXX - one of the rarest supercars running around in this planet – that’s being put to its paces at Ferrari’s legendary test track in Fiorano by renowned test driver Dario Benuzzi. Like we said, the FXX is a car that’s usually found in posters and wish lists, but, apparently, that’s not the case for Top Gear.
Just before Michael Schumacher took off his white helmet and exposed himself as the Stig on the BBC television show Top Gear, he set a new speed record around the Top Gear test track in his personal Ferrari FXX. The racing spec super car gets an additional 150 HP over the standard model and takes advantage of lightweight materials to carry speed through the turns so it can hit it’s top speed of 217 MPH when it hits the straight away.
The previous record was held by the Gumpert Apollo, some 6.5 seconds slower. As nice as the factory tuned racing version of the Enzo is, personally we can’t wait for the 599XX based on the GTB Fiorano of a similar numerical nature.
